Infection
by ShisaKomainu
Summary: A new virus has been unleashed upon the general public and HTT finds themselves stuck in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. How will the band fair against the horrible mutations that were once their friends, neighbors, peers, and family? YuiAzu Mitsu Yuri
1. Prelude To Horror

**A/N:** This is mainly an angst/horror based fic, but there will be drama, romance, and even a little humor mixed in. **There will also be character death!**

**Disclaimer: **_I own only this story's plot and my OC's. Not K-ON! or it's characters._

**Eventual Pairings:**

YuiAzu

Mitsu

_**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The flick of a lighter was the only sound that penetrated the dead silence permeating the barely waking city streets.

A lone figure standing on the balcony of her two-story house looked at the slowly rising sun on the horizon with cold indifference reflected in her dark brown almost black eyes. She took a long drag off her Marlboro menthol and exhaled slowly, watching her breath mingle in the chilly late Autumn air with the smoke.

_"-Now a word from Dr. Yamamoto telling us more about the strange virus that seems to be taking a big toll on not only Japan, but what seems like the entire world."_

The woman tilted her head in question as the news woman on her TV caught her attention; her short unruly black hair swaying in a sudden ominous breeze.

_"Thank you, Hiiragi-san. As you were saying, this strange new virus has spread quickly seemingly over night infecting adults, the elderly, infants, even young adults and children in their teens at seemingly random. The symptoms are as follows-"_ There was a pause in the old man's raspy voice as the sound of coughing and rustling of papers echoed through her house.

She took one last hit from her cigarette and snuffed it out on the metal railing, then walked inside shutting the sliding glass doors behind her. The woman smoothed out her red robe and took a seat on the leather couch in front of the TV next to a large fluffy brown dog sprawled out lazily on the two other cushions.

_"E-Excuse me. The symptoms are: Irregular bleeding from the nose, coughing up blood, vomiting blood, blurred vision, high fever, and ferocious hunger. So I am cautioning you to stay home if infected and wear medical masks when heading outdoors as this virus is incredibly infectious and can be passed on by even breathing alone." _The old man broke into another vicious coughing fit as the footage switched back to the news woman with long lilac colored hair from before and the morning news continued on as regular.

"**Huh...A new Virus? Probably just another over hyped illness like the swine flu.**"

In response to her sudden voice, the dog layed it's massive head in her lap making her look from the TV into it's deep brown eyes as she ran her fingers through it's thick slightly oily fur. She wasn't worried about the new flu, but couldn't help the chill that ran down her spine as she glanced out the window and saw large black clouds rolling in slowly from the West.

She could already tell that today was going to be a shitty day as thunder echoed loudly outside making the dog in her lap growl and the windows rattle.

**-x-x-x-x-**

_"-And that's our broadcast for the day. The time is seven thirty am on Friday, November the thirteenth, I am Kaga-"_

A teenege girl sitting on a pea green couch coughed as she sat the TV remote on the coffee table in front of her and listened for any movement from upstairs. Hearing none, as expected, she stood and walked to the staircase on the other side of the room and put a hand to the side of her mouth. She took a deep breath and called up the stairs-

"Onee-chan! It's time to wake up or we'll be la-" The young girl coughed heavily into her hands. She tensed and jumped in fright at the unexpected touch of another hand rubbing her back.

"Ui, are you feeling okay?"

Ui relaxed at the sound of her elder sister's voice and turned around, hiding her blood flecked hands behind her back, to greet her. To her great astonishment, her lazy sister was fully dressed and groomed looking ready for the day as she stared at her worriedly.

"Yes, I'm fine." She smiled, silently hoping there was no blood on her teeth or lips. "You suprised me though, I usually have to pry you out of bed in the mornings."

She watched her blush and giggle embarassedly.

"I set my alarm wrong again..." The elder girl held up a slice of half eaten toast smeared with what looked like her favorite strawberry jam. "I even made myself breakfast this morning, I'msuprised you didn't notice me until now."

Ui averted her eyes and it was her turn to giggle embarassedly, she pulled her handkerchief out of her pocket and discreetly wiped her hands.

"I just have a lot on my mind lately..." She quickly thought of something to change the subject. "We'd better hurry if you want to make it there in time for you to give Azusa-chan a good morning hug."

She watched her sister's face light up at the mention of their friend's name and smiled as her Onee-chan grabbed her hand and almost dragged her out the door without even waiting to put their coats and shoes on.

_For once, it's a good thing that she's so easily distracted._ The younger girl thought as she tugged her to a stop and lightly scolded her for being so impatient.

Ui's vision blurred at the edges then slowly gained focus again as she slid her loafers on, she looked at her sister doing the same, though much clumsier, and smiled gently.

_It's better that she doesn't know._

**-x-x-x-x-**

"Mom, how's he doing?"

"Not so good, your father and I are going to take him to the hospital today if he doesn't show any signs of getting better." The older woman rubbed the sleeping young boy's head softly and stood. She wiped her hand on her apron due to the sweat from the boy's hair and turned to face her daughter with teary eyes. "It's about time for you to go meet Mio-chan. You don't want to be late for school, Ritsu."

"Yeah, I'm going." Ritsu huffed turning around so her mom couldn't see the tears in her similar amber eyes or the worried expression on her face. "Just checking up on the dweeb before I go."

"I know, have a good day."

Ritsu found it inappropriate to say it back, she knew it wasn't going to be a good day for her mother, so she just walked down the hall and to the staircase without a word. She met her father at the bottom, he handed her her bag and put a large hand atop her head making her look up at him.

"Satoshi's gonna be alright, you go play your drums with your friends and leave the worrying to your parents." 's grin was infectious and made his daughter smile as well.

"Thanks, dad." In a rare show of affection on her part, Ritsu hugged her slightly short chubby dad then ran to the front door to slide her shoes and jacket on. As the door slid shut at her departure the man's grin fell into a worried frown, a loud hacking cough echoed through the house making him frown deeper and look up the dark staircase sadly.

"Leave the worrying to us..."

**-x-x-x-x-**

Mugi coughed and winced at the sight of the crimson droplets that dotted her silken white sheets. She knew she couldn't go to school today. Her head throbbed and vision blurred, she already had tissue up her nose and she was feeling horrible. The weakened girl grabbed her cellphone off her bedside table and scrolled through her contacts until she got to a certain name.

"I might as well send Ricchan a text, hopefully the others won't be too worried by my absence."

She coughed more as she typed in her message and hit send, she wiped the blood off her screen and layed back into her mountain of pillows to get some sleep.

"I hope I get better soon..."

**-x-x-x-x-**

"Hey, Mio!"

Said girl, turned and saw Ritsu running up to meet her, she smiled softly as the energetic drummer slowed to a stop in front of her and bowed over with her hands on her knees out of breath.

"Morning, Ritsu."

The shorter girl stood up straight and greeted her statuesqe friend with a grin.

"Mornin'." She quickly took notice of the white medical mask on Mio's face and frowned in worry. "What's with the mask, are you sick?"

Mio shook her head and slid the mask off. It fell around her neck, forgotten for now, as she answered the question and started to walk.

"No, but both of my parents are sick. My mama-I mean-_mom_ told me to wear it so I won't catch the virus as well."

Ritsu's frown stayed in place as she walked beside the bassist, she even ignored the _mama_ comment.

"Satoshi's still sick too, my parents said they were thinking of taking him to the hospital."

Tears started to gather in Mio's eyes as she gripped one of the straps on her bass case tightly in her left hand. Ritsu was quick to notice her friend's distress and grabbed her other hand in hopes to comfort her, she pushed out _fuwa fuwa_ feeling the contact gave her and focused on the ebony haired girl's worry laced voice instead.

"I tried to call the hospital earlier, but the line was busy."

Ritsu's eyebrows shot up in suprise.

"B-Busy? You called 119, right? They're never to busy to not answer an emergency call."

Mio nodded, a tear ran down her cheek and splashed onto her scarf as she tightened her grip on the drummer's hand.

"I called s-six times, all I got was a recording..."

They approached the spot where they'd usually meet Mugi in uneasy silence. Thunder echoed forebodingly in the distance as Ritsu's phone beeped, signaling that she got a text. The tawny haired girl released Mio's hand, she couldn't see the bassist frown at the lost contact, and pulled her cell out of her pocket. She flipped it open and sighed sadly after she read the text.

"Mugi-chan's sick," She slid her phone into her pocket and continued to walk with Mio right beside her. "she's not coming to school today."

"It seems like everyone's getting sick from this virus...I'm scared."

Mio was only slightly suprised by Ritsu's response.

"I'm scared too."

**-x-x-x-x-**

A petite girl with black hair tied up in twin-tails just finished sliding her school shoes on and placed her brown loafers in her locker with a tired sigh. The locker room was suprisingly quiet today, it was to be expected, with almost half of the school being out sick due to the new virus, it's no wonder there was hardly any noise except for the occasional sound of someone coughing.

The sound of a familiar happy giggle to her right made her tense and whirl around with her hands put up in futile defense.

"Yui-senpai, do-Nya!"

She was scooped into the arms of her loveable senpai before she could even blink, it took her a minute to notice her face was mushed between the elder girl's-ahem- fun cushions.

_...She's so warm, she smells like roses...and her breasts are really soft-wait-what?_

"Morning, Azunyan~"

Said Azunyan, squirmed in her senpai's loving grip and franticaly tried to get free as the elder girl rubbed her cheek against the top of her head making sounds of utter joy in the process.

"Good morning, Azusa-chan." Ui just waved and smiled pleasently at the sight, she then sat down nearby to put on her indoor shoes coughing a little into her sleeve.

Azusa was finally able to pry herself free when the sound of the bell made the elder girl go into panic mode.

"Ah! I'm gonna be late!" Yui quickly ran around another row of lockers, out of sight, before the embarassed kouhai could even fully compose herself.

"We'd better get going as well, Azusa-chan." The blushing girl just nodded at Ui's statement, trying to tame her hair where the senior had messed it up, and followed the younger Hirasawa. "Have you heard from Jun-chan today?"

"S-She sent me a text earlier, she's out sick." Azusa growled irratably as she finaly got her hair in order. "Yui-senpai's getting more clingy as time goes on."

"Oh, she has her reasons." Ui giggled mysteriously making the small guitarist mumble something to herself that vaguely sounded like _crazy sisters_.

**-x-x-x-x-**

A tall woman was walking her fluffy brown dog, a newfoundland, down a street near her house. She stopped in front of a two story white building and took a long drag off her cigarette.

She's noticed a few sick people stumbling around on the streets during her walk and was worried about the two young girls that lived there. The elder one liked to occasionaly hang out at her place after they met a few months ago, so they were somewhat good friends now. The dog tugged impatiently on it's leash, the black spiked leather collar around it's neck gleaming in a sudden flash of lightning.

"**Fine. let's go, Cupcake.**"The storm she had seen coming earlier hung overhead ominously as no rain fell but blocked almost all of the afternoon sunlight. "**I need to get back to playing Left 4 Dead 2, damn bots keep fucking me up. Maybe I'll do some online gaming, but I just know some assholes will want to play shotgun tag...**"

The tall woman shivered hearing the sounds of police sirens in the distance and the jingle of Cupcake's tags, she suddenly got a bad feeling...

**-x-x-x-x-**

"Sawako-sensei, I got a nosebleed. Can I go to the nurse?"

Sawako looked away from the blackboard to a girl in the back row of her fourth period class. As the young girl had said, blood was leaking through her pale fingers as she covered her nose and mouth.

"Of course. Sato-san took the last pass, so just go." She smiled softly at the student and turned back to the board to continue with her lesson.

Her class of thirty was now down to five, and three more looked like they were sick as well, sweat appeared on her brow as she explained something to her small class.

_Why hasn't school been canceled? Almost the entire school is sick or out absent..._

She didn't have long to ponder this as the bell had wrang signaling that lunch had just begun. Sawako grabbed her things and rushed out of the room thinking about tea and cake, she bumped into someone in the hall and was about to appologize when she noticed it was Ui and she looked really pale with a paper towel held to her nose.

"Ui-chan, you're sick too?" The girl looked up at her and nodded weakly. "Do you need me to walk you to the nurse, you look really bad."

"I'm fine. You're going up to the light music club, right?" Sawako nodded. "Then, please don't tell Onee-chan that I'm sick. I don't want her to worry over nothing."

She was uncertain about this fact going untold and voiced her concerns.

"I can't just not tell her, you're really sick and she deserves to know." Sawako was in stern teacher mode now.

"Please, don't tell her." Tears were gathering in the young girl's eyes making Sawako feel bad at upseting the poor girl.

She cracked in two seconds flat.

"Fine, but if it get's worse you know she'll find out regardless." Ui just bowed slightly and walked around the teacher.

Sawako watched the girl walk away, making sure she was fine going to the nurse by herself, then headed for the staircase down the hall that would take her to the clubroom.

"I hope I did the right thing..."

She didn't hear the student, one of the girls from her own classroom, reaching out toward her with both hands, or see her milky white dead eyes until it was to late.

**-x-x-x-x-**

"Did you hear that?" Yui lifted her head up off the clubroom table as she was startled from her half asleep state by a sudden noise.

Ritsu was the only one in the clubroom with the airheaded guitarist. Mio had gone to the first floor to get her lunch box from her locker, Mugi was absent, and they didn't know where Azusa was yet.

"Yeah, sounds like it came from the stairwell." Ritsu also looked to be shaken from her almost-nap by the sudden sound as well. "Sounded kinda like a scream."

Yui nodded.

"Should we go see if they're okay?" The airhead asked the president.

"Someone could have fallen down the stairs, so yeah." The drummer stood and Yui followed as they opened the door and stepped out onto the landing.

They recognized the sound of groaning and more pained screams as they made their descent, it was making them feel a little scared to see what they'd find at the bottom.

"H-Help!"

The sudden cry for help made them speed up as they recognized the voice as their advisor's.

"That was Sawa-chan!" Ritsu made it to the bottom first.

Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw around the corner.

The drummer gasped at the sight of her bleeding teacher, it took everything in her just to keep her breakfast from forcibly vacating her stomach.

A little ways down the hall, two girls were on top of Sawako, who was pinned to the ground, one was busy tearing into the flesh on her right arm and the other already had a good chunk of the teacher's left shin in her mouth.

The second one was looking straight at the frozen drummer with her lifeless eyes, having heard the gasp, blood dripped down her chin in rivers as she clumsily stood and stumbled her way toward the still girl with outstretched hands. The teacher, though having lost a lot of blood, was doing a good job keeping the ravenous girl chewing on her arm from getting to her neck as Ritsu stood and did nothing but stare at the gory scene. The bloody girl suddenly picked up speed and sprinted toward the distracted tawny haired girl.

"Ricchan!"

Just as the cannibal was about to grasp the drummer by her neck, she was pushed out of the way, by what felt like a truck, and watched helplessly as Yui kneeled flipping the blood soaked girl over her back before running to help their teacher.

"Sawa-chan!"

Yui knee'd the other girl in the face, she felt the cartilage in her classmate's nose shatter, but the cannibal just stumbled back and looked at her before letting out a choked snarl and rushing toward the guitarist. She ducked and flipped the girl over her back like she had done with the other and quickly grabbed Sawako's uninjured arm and hauled her to her feet.

"Ricchan, help me get her to the clubroom!" The girls Yui had knocked down were already getting up as she dragged her half concious teacher toward the stairs. "_Ritsu!_"

"R-Right!" The drummer stood and rushed over to help her friend. "Sorry, Sawa-chan."

The semi-coherent teacher whimpered as her bloody mangled arm was pulled across the tawny haired girl's shoulders. They dragged her to the staircase just as the girls behind them fully stood and groaned angrily. Yui glanced back and gulped noticing the girls stalking toward them, she couldn't let her teacher down now though.

They looked to be getting ready to charge them again, but luckily the two blood covered girls were drawn to another sound down the hall as more screams and groans erupted all over the school.

Yui and Ritsu took the chance given to them and hauled their teacher quickly up the stairs into the clubroom.

"Ricchan, lock the door!"

The drummer nodded and gently released the teacher's arm to lock the door as told.

"Get me the first aid kit please!" Yui dragged her teacher to the bench and sat her down as Ritsu ran into the closet the get the emergency kit. "I'm sorry Sawa-chan, I have to stop the bleeding."

Yui pulled her outer blazer off and quickly wrapped it around the wound on her teacher's arm, which seemed to be losing a lot more blood than her leg. Sawako did nothing but whimper in pain as her conciousness faded in and out. Ritsu returned with the rather large medical kit and sat it down next to the guitarist, who seemed to be in complete control for once, and stood nearby to help if needed.

"Thanks." Yui didn't even look up as she rolled her sleeves up with her bloody fingers and opened the med kit, she pulled out a bottle of alcohol and poured it on Sawako's wounded leg before dabbing it dry with a cloth. The teacher hardly made a sound as Yui did this, making the drummer worried.

"Make sure she stays awake, Ricchan."

Said girl, nodded and walked over to grab the teacher's uninjured hand.

"Sawa-chan, if you die now you'll never get a boyfriend." She felt the hand give hers a squeeze making her worried look turn into a small grin while Yui wrapped Sawako's leg with gauze.

While the other girl kept Sawako awake, Yui tied the gauze off on the teacher's leg and moved to the wound on her arm. She peeled the blazer off and examined the vicious bite wound on Sawako's pale skin. It was so deep that it looked like it needed stitches.

_I don't know how to do stitches...I'll just wrap it and hope for the best, at least the bleeding stopped._

"Sawa-chan," The teacher's light brown eyes turned to her direction. "I know it hurts, but can you move the fingers on your right hand?"

The fingers only twitched at first, making Yui worry that the rabid girl might have torn into her tendons or nerves, but all the fingers slowly but surely started to wiggle easing her fears.

"Good, you can stop now. I'm gonna disinfect your arm like I did with your leg." Yui grabbed the bottle of alcohol again and poured some into the open wound before dabbing it clean and starting to wrap it. She got a moan of pain this time, which was a good sign.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Ritsu asked, hovering over Yui's shoulder, watching the guitarist wrapped the wound.

"I think so, can you get her a couple pain pills?" She glanced up at the tawny haired girl while she cut the gauze and grabbed the medical tape to secure it like she did with their injured teacher's leg. "She's in _a lot_ of pain right now."

"Okay." Just as she was going to grab the pill bottle, pounding sounded at the door making them both jump.

Thinking it might have been those girls again, Ritsu grabbed a music stand and made her way to the door where the frantic knocking got even more urgent. She peered through the window and saw a bloody Nodoka and Azusa staring back. She quickly dropped the stand and unlocked the door.

"It's gone to hell down there!" The normally composed student council president shouted locking the door behind them as soon as the wide eyed kouhai was in. "It's like something out of a horror film!"

"Tell me about it, Sawa-chan was almost killed by two crazy girls!" Ritsu said back as she gestured to the injured teacher sitting on the bench.

"Sensei! They got her?!" Azusa ran up to the bench and saw the gauze wrapped neatly around the wounds. "Who treated her?"

"Yui-chan." Ritsu said as Yui walked back from the sink with a teacup full of water and a couple pills.

"Sawa-chan, can you sit up long enough to take these pills?"

"Y-Yes. Thank you, Yui-chan."

Yui could tell by the sound in her teacher's voice that she wasn't just thanking her for the pills, but for saving her as well. She just nodded and handed her the pills and cup of water then turned to face her shocked kouhai and childhood friend. The serious look on her face quickly melted into her usual goofy smile as she latched onto the two of her favorite people, snapping them out of their stunned stupor as well.

"Azunyan! Nodoka-chan! You're both okay!" Yui released them and tears gathered in her chocolate brown eyes.

"More or less. Looks like that class on first aid Ui sent you to paid off." Nodoka was genuinly impressed by her usualy irresponsible friend's medical ability. It was lucky for Sawako that Yui actually retained the information she had learned in that class two years ago.

"Yup. I was so scared though!"

At the mention of the word _scared_, something clicked in Ritsu's head.

"_Oh my god!_ Where's Mio?!"

The drummer didn't even want to _think_ about what was happening to her best friend in a school crawling with rabid cannibal students.

"I thought Mio-senpai was in here with you guys!" Azusa looked equally frightened by the notion of the timid senpai being out in the chaos raging just downstairs.

"That's really bad! Mio-chan could faint and di-" Yui's sentence was stopped by her childhood friend covering her mouth and jerking her head toward the anguished drummer staring at the door. "Sorry, Ricchan. I didn't mean-Ui...Ui's down there too."

The serious look was back on the airhead's face as she calmly walked over to the table and overturned a chair. She tilted it at an angle and slammed her foot down onto one of the legs, it broke away from the chair with a loud _crack_. She tossed the seperated wooden appendage to Ritsu and broke another leg off for herself. Yui grabbed the thick slab of wood, holding it like a club, and walked up to the doors. She looked over her shoulder at her stunned friends as she pulled them open.

"Ricchan, we're going to save Ui and Mio-chan. Let's go." The drummer just nodded and followed her out without a word, her mind was going crazy with thoughts of Mio being attacked by those girls-no-_things_ outside.

Yui peeked her head back in. "Lock the doors and don't let anyone in, we'll be back."

And then they were gone.

"...Did that just happen?" Azusa asked the spectacle wearing senpai next to her.

"I don't know, Azusa-chan. I don't know what's real anymore."

_**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

**A/N:** I hope you liked the first chapter.

I don't own Left 4 Dead 2.

**Review please.**


	2. School's Out: Part 1

**Disclaimer: **_I own only this fic's plot and my OC's. Not K-ON! or it's characters._

**-x-x-x-x-x (Friday, November 13th. Day 1. Part 1/2.) x-x-x-x-x-**

Yui and Ritsu ran down the hall toward the stairs that would lead them to the ground floor where the locker area resides. It was decided that they would go after Mio first, since they actually knew where she was. Yui was hard pressed to go off on her own to search for Ui, but she knew that they were better off watching each other's backs than splitting up. They ran past classrooms filled with screams and pleads for help, but they couldn't stop, they had to keep running or else they'd end up attacked, disemboweled, and feasted on like their peers.

They could hear thunder and feel an electric charge in the air as the storm outside suddenly erupted and started to pour rain. Windows that had been busted out by desperate students did nothing to hold the vicious winds or torrents of rain out. The two members of the light music club just continued to run, ignoring the need to stop for a rest and the rain plastering their bloody uniforms to their bodies. Yui was feeling far less fatuiged than the drummer gradually falling behind, she cursed their school for being so big and fell back into a fast jog with Ritsu. The only reason she was able to run like this was because of her daily sprints to school every morning.

They were startled to a stop by a sudden flash and sparks shooting from a power pole outside, the lights went out and left them in the windy corridor in the dark. Hardly any sunlight filtered through the dark clouds casting the chaotic world outside and inside the school in a shadowy veil. The two girls could see search lights in the city, along with many fires, and could hear sirens, screams, even gunfire, it was complete chaos.

They could only _hope_ that their families were okay.

"What's going on?" Ritsu asked, she couldn't believe the situation they were stuck in. "Everything was fine up until an hour ago..."

"I don't know, but we've been standing in one place for to long," It was true, at least five or six girls with those dead white eyes were staring and shuffling their way over to them. "Let's go, we still need to find Mio-chan and Ui."

Ritsu nodded and Yui took the lead once more.

_Yui's not as airheaded as we were lead to believe. She actually knows when to be serious... _The tawny haired girl watched her friend run in a new light, she was no longer a carefree fairy in her eyes; She was a sister and close friend helping fight for their lives.

Yui leaped over a couple bodies in the middle of the hall and the drummer followed, the bloody corpses' heads seemed to have been smashed in, but they didn't have time to speculate that as they were almost to the staircase leading to the ground floor.

The way down was dark, but the dim light coming from the lower landing's window was just enough for them to see the rest of the way. Just as the guitarist was about to take the first step, Ritsu heard a choking noise from behind them and Yui was yanked to the ground by her ankle before the drummer could even react. Luckily the older of the Hirasawa siblings had just enough time to grab the top step before whatever had her ankle could drag her down the dark hall they had just come from.

"Ricchan, help!" Yui strained to keep her hold on the bloody step as whatever had her right ankle squeezed and pulled harder.

The drummer didn't have to be told twice this time as she brought her makeshift club down on the long red tentacle like thing that had her friend with all her might. She could hear a screech of pain from a ways down the hall as the slimy thing released Yui's foot and retreated into the darkness. Ritsu quickly helped Yui up and they started to go down the stairs, they didn't even want to think about what had just happened. It was a scary thought that they had more than their former classmates to worry about now...

"Thanks, Ricchan." Yui said as the drummer released her hand. "I was sure I was a goner."

"No problem, just consider it payback for saving me earlier."

They could hear the storm outside even better now at the bottom of the stairs in the first floor hall. Just down the long walkway was the locker room, strong winds blowing in from the opened doors at the end blew rain and papers all over the seemingly deserted hall. The two girls walked cautiously into the gusty corridor and could see why it was empty when they looked out the broken windows, while on the second floor only some of the glass was shattered, any girls that were on the first floor for lunch had escaped into the courtyard outside of the school using _all_ windows and doors as well in their desperation. There were bodies littering the front lawn and even more of those _things_ pacing around aimlessly in the storm.

"Creepy, isn't it?" _Cough_

Ritsu and Yui jumped and spun around with their clubs held high.

"Woah woah! I'm not one of them!" It was Ui and Azusa's friend, the one with the frizzy pig tails, standing with a bloody bass in one hand and the other hand held up protecting her face. The two seniors lowered their weapons and held their own free hands over their racing hearts.

It's funny how seeing dead bodies wasn't as scary as being startled by an underclassmen.

"Sasaki-san?" Ritsu asked.

"Suzuki-san." Yui corrected.

"Jun-chan's fine, Ritsu-senpai." Jun lowered her hand and slung her battered instrument onto her shoulder with a cough. "I thought I was the only one left, I was just about to head upstairs to find Ui."

"You know where Ui is?!" Yui grabbed the kouhai by her blood spattered blazer and frantically asked. "Where is she?!"

"Shhhh! Don't yell or they'll find us,Yui-senpai." The puffy haired bassist gently pulled the desperate senpai's hands of her shirt and continued. "They react to sounds."

"Sorry. You know where Ui is, right?" Seeing the younger girl nod, Yui smiled, relieved by the news. "Where is she?"

"The nurse's office on the second floor, she went there during lunch because she wasn't feeling well." Yui's face fell at the news, Ui was sick? "I'm worried about Azusa-chan as well, she was at the student coucil office getting some papers for the teacher. That's what Ui told me when I first got to school about an hour or so ago."

"Azusa-chan is safe up in the clubroom with Nodoka-chan and Sawako-sensei, we're looking for Mio right now." Ritsu said while Yui was quietly mulling over her sister being sick. "Have you seen her?"

"Mio-senpai's missing?" The drummer nodded. "No, I haven't seen her, but I heard someone screaming in the locker room a while ago. I was busy fighting for my life, and I didn't think it was anyone I knew, so I didn't bother to check."

At the mention of a scream coming from the place they believed Mio would be, Ritsu picked her club up at the ready and dashed down the hall in a dead sprint. Yui and Jun quickly followed suit, not only wanting to get to their timid friend/senpai before it was to late, but to stop the drummer before she could run into possible trouble as well.

Ritsu found herself pulled to a stop by the collar of her blazer before she could round the corner into the locker area, she struggled for a second thinking it was one of _them_, but relaxed when she felt the unmistakeable arms of Yui wrap around her torso and pull her back.

"Yui, what the he-" A hand was slapped over the drummer's mouth, this time by Jun, as the young bassist pointed to some of those _things _loitering just around the corner. She would have run straight into the middle of them if Yui hadn't stopped her.

"You need to be more careful, Ritsu-senpai." Jun pulled a pack of gum out of her pocket and tossed it across the locker room, making it hit the far wall and the six or seven _things_ inside follow the sound. With the way now clear, Yui released the slightly shorter girl and peeked around the corner.

"Sorry, but when I heard about Mio possibly being in more danger my mind went blank." Ritsu appologized for almost blowing their cover and followed Yui into the dark locker room.

Jun followed just behind them, watching out for more of those _things_ as they navigated the rows of lockers looking for the lost bassist. They searched all of the locker room looking for any sign of Mio, as the storm outside slowly calmed into a light drizzle, the thick dark clouds still casting a night like haze over the afternoon sky making it difficult to navigate the large space.

They slipped quietly past some stray _things_ and approached the last row of lockers, the small group made it to the senior row against the back wall without being caught. There they saw bloody hand prints against the bassist's open locker and Mio's lunch box laying on the ground in a puddle of blood. Ritsu's legs almost gave out from under her at the horrific sight, but the sudden sound of a quiet sniffle quickly interuppted her anguish. At first she almost thought she didn't hear it, then she saw Yui and Jun start to look around curiously, and heard another.

"Mio...?" She asked quietly.

A sound akin to a hiccup was her answer and she heard something moving on the top of the lockers. A few seconds later the group saw a cascade of ebony hair fall over the side as a familiar someone peeked over the edge with teary blue gray eyes.

"R-Ritsu?"

The grin on the drummer's face has never been bigger then at that moment.

"Mio! How did you get up there?" She was somehow able to keep her voice at a low level as she reached up with her left hand and gently touched the side of the bassist's blood spattered cheek. "You're not hurt, are you?"

Mio shook her head _no_.

"...I-I-I s-stabbed o-one of th-them." She stuttered out shocking Ritsu.

"With what?!" Jun scolded her for raising her voice again and went back to keeping watch with Yui. She asked again, this time in a softer tone. "Sorry. With what?"

"M-My ch-chopsticks..."

"So that's why your lunch box was on the ground in a puddle of blood." Mio just nodded and grabbed Ritsu's hand on her face with her own bloody fingers. "And I take it the bloody hand prints were from when you scrambled to the top of the locker to hide?"

The frightened girl nodded again.

"Sorry to break up the happy reunion, but we've been spotted." Jun pointed to the small group of _things_ they had managed to fool, and more, heading their way.

"C'mon Mio, we gotta go." Ritsu put her club on the bench behind her and held her right hand up, indicating that she would help the scared girl down, but frowned when Mio shook her head and scooted back out of view still clutching her left hand tightly in her own. "Everyone is waiting in the clubroom, we need to get out of here before more of _them_ come!"

She couldn't see it, but she was sure Mio shook her head _no_ again.

"Please hurry, Mio-chan! Ui's still missing and we need to find her too!" Yui said as she knocked a couple of _them _back with her club. "We'll even leave you in the clubroom with the other's where it's safe before we go find her!"

Ritsu felt the hand in her grasp squeeze her's briefly then saw the bassist peek her head over the edge again.

"Don't let me fall, baka." Ritsu was suprised by the firm tone in Mio's voice, but braced herself to help the taller girl down off her perch.

Ritsu backed up a little and held the bassist's hands in hers as said bassist hopped off the lockers and landed in front of her. The shorter girl released Mio's hands and turned around to grab her club from where she left it, just as her fingers wrapped around the makeshift weapon she was suprised to feel a warm body press against her back and arms wrap tightly around her waist.

"Thanks for coming back for me..."

The drummer blushed so hard that she was sure her ears were red when she felt the bassist's soft lips press against the side of her neck in thanks. When Mio released her embarassed friend, her face was just as red, if not more so, and was suprised in return when Ritsu grabbed her left hand.

"Let's go." The shorter girl said ctutching Mio's hand tightly in one hand and her club in her other as Yui and Jun cleared the way.

As soon as the way they came in was open, they made a run for it.

The halls were soaked with rain and their feet made splashing sounds that were previously covered by the sound of the storm outside, but now that the storm had calmed into a light drizzle, the stray _things_ that hadn't noticed them before were chasing them down the long corridor they had come from. Mio kept her eyes on the back of Ritsu's head as they ran, the only things keeping her from collapsing from fright in the middle of the hall was the reassurance that she would be safe as soon as they make it to the clubroom on the third floor and that Ritsu was there to protect her.

"We have to lose them somehow, if they follow us to the clubroom we're screwed!" Jun shouted back as Yui pushed a couple _things_ in front of them out of the way.

They made it to the stairs and ran up them onto the landing with the broken window, to their great suprise, the _things_ that had been chasing them couldn't follow them up the slippery steps. One of _them_ made it up a little ways then missed a step and fell, knocking over and tripping the ten or so others below it.

"They're not very smart..." Yui commented watching _them_ trying to climb up, only to slip again and knock over the others that had just gotten to their feet.

It would have been funny if their lives weren't in danger.

"Yeah. Let's keep going," Ritsu helped Mio, who had closed her eyes in fright, up the steps as she said this. "we can talk about what's going on when we get everyone safe."

Yui nodded and took the lead once more with Jun as the group entered the second floor again. This time they walked slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible while making their way down the dark corridor. Thunder outside was just a soft echo now, indicating that the storm was probably moving away, it was eerily quiet except for the soft patter of rain outside and groans of the _things_ roaming aimlessly around them.

Ritsu just hoped they wouldn't run into whatever had grabbed Yui earlier.

As if on cue, the drummer tensed as the sound of soft choking noises filled her ears. She turned around and pushed Mio behind her, but as she scanned the growing darkness, she saw nothing there. She waved off the others' questions and continued to walk with thoughts of whatever that thing was in her head.

The stairs soon came into sight, making everyone let out a simultanious sigh of relief and pick up the pace. They made it to the top in no time and Yui knocked on the door, keeping her voice just low enough for everyone inside to hear and not the _things_ lurking below.

Better safe than sorry.

"Azunyan, Nodoka-chan, open the door. We found Mio-chan." Yui could see her kouhai in the dimly lit room get up from her seat at the table and walk over to unlock the door through the glass window.

Everyone quickly made their way inside and locked the door back behind them.

Yui found herself pleasently suprised by a pair of small arms suddenly wrapped around her waist and a warm body pressed against her rain and blood soaked front. She wrapped her own arms around the small kouhai and hugged back. They stood like this, basking in eachother's warmth and security for a good while, before Azusa pulled back and looked into her senpai's deep brown eyes.

There were unshed tears in her own garnet orbs making Yui panic and clutch the kouhai's shoulders tightly.

"Azunyan, what-"

The younger girl pushed Yui away and shook her head before raising her arm.

_Smack!_

The other girls in the room watched in stunned silence as Yui held a hand up to her now stinging cheek.

Azusa slapped her.

"Wha-"

"You dumbass! Do you know how worried I-_we_-were about you?!" Azusa looked up at her senpai with a tearful glare.

Yui was shocked into silence by the upset kouhai's harsh words. No one in the club has ever heard the well mannered girl curse before, and Azusa's never called her a dumbass, irresponsible maybe, but not a _dumbass_.

"Woah, Azusa-cha-"

She rounded on the drummer.

"You too! You're both _so_ fucking stupid, going out into that _mess_ outside with nothing but a couple broken chair legs!" She was spouting her harsh words at both of them now. "You two piss me off with your idiotic antics everyday, and I put up with it for the sake of our friendship, but you could have been _killed_ going out there by yourselv-"

Her rant was promptly interupted.

"There there, calm down." Yui's left arm wrapped around Azusa's slim waist and the hand on the other was petting the ink black hair on top of her head, the scene was much like what she had done when the petite girl had thrown her first tantrum within the light music club.

"We're fine, we're okay." Yui continued to whisper comforting words into the kitten's ear and she gradually felt the kouhai's tense body relax against her own.

The others just watched the scene before them like it was an ordinary occurance. Which it was.

One of the _only_ ordinary things to happen on this day.

"Wow. I've heard about Yui-senpai being able to tame Azusa-chan mid rant, but I never believed it until now." Jun commented, making Azusa snap out of her blissful state and struggle her way out of Yui's grasp.

"I-she-that is...Mou, just forget it." Azusa was about to retreat back to the table, but instead noticed who she was talking to and paused. "Jun? I thought you were out sick?"

"I was, but I started feeling better around lunch and decided to come to school." The puffy haired girl shrugged.

"You just used that as an excuse to skip that test we had in english this morning, didn't you?"

"No, I was seriously sick this time!" Jun huffed crossing her arms over her chest in offense. "I was throwing up blood and everything."

"Right, and I suppo-"

"Sorry to interupt, but Ui's still out there and I need to go find her." Yui was already turning the doorknob before another voice stopped her.

"It's getting dark, you won't be able to see anything in this blackout." Nodoka said, which was very true. It was already hard for her to see everyone's faces clearly, even in the clubroom, and it was getting even darker as they spoke. "It's even more dangerous than before to go out now."

"I need to save Ui." Yui was going to open the door, but a hand placed on top of hers stopped her this time.

"Yui-senpai, please don't go out there again." Azusa's tiny hand clasped hers tightly as she plead. "Nodoka-senpai's right, it's to dark. You don't even have a flashlight. We need to stay here and wait for the police to show up."

"That's not going to happen."

All the girl's turned their attention to the drummer who was looking out the window toward the dark street below.

"I think you all should see this..." Ritsu was pale and her amber eyes were wide as she stared out into the darkening world below, Mio was beside her and it looked like she was crying as she clung to the back of her childhood friend's disheveled blood stained blazer. Her face was shoved in the shorter girl's shoulder, muffling her soft sobs.

Yui and Azusa made their way to one of the windows, shortly followed by Jun and Nodoka, as Sawako continued to sleep on the bench where she had passed out earlier. What they saw was like something straight out of an apocalypse based movie.

Like before, Ritsu could see search lights in the city, most of the buildings were up in flames, and she could still hear police sirens, but the source of the sirens from before was a let down to say the least. There were two police cars crashed into the gates of the school, one was flipped on it's top and was smashed up against the other, the two crashed cars were blocking the only entrance and exit to the school. The police that had been in the vehicles looked to be dead, killed by the crash itself, but one of them was blindly attacking the car along with about thirty or so more of the _things _that had been lured by the loud sirens.

"W-What are we supposed to do now?" Mio whimpered looking to the silent group for answers. "If the police can't help us, then who will?"

Everyone seeme to be at a loss of words. Mio's questions struck a cord in all of them, they were just high school students, what _could_ they do? The only adult in the room was already injured and incapacitated for the moment and they were alone in a school full of _cannibals_. Mio sobbed into Ritsu's shoulder as her tiny bit of resolve finally crumbled, the drummer could do nothing but stand there while she watched her friends lose hope and fall apart right in front of her.

Jun slid down the wall with her bloody bass clutched to her chest, shaking with fear while all of the fight she had shown earlier was washed away just as fast as it had come. Her cough, that had seemingly dissapeared, returned full force making it hard for her to breathe properly.

Nodoka slumped into a nearby chair and pulled her glasses off to rub her face, it seems that even she was struck dumb by their situation. She muttered almost insanely as she stared blankly ahead at the wall in front of her.

Azusa looked to be in denial as she mumbled to herself and pushed Yui away, regretting the action almost immediately but not showing it.

Yui dropped to her knees and hugged her arms to her body at the loss of warm contact, willing the images of her dead peers out of her head and the flashes of doubt that showed her sister as one of _them_.

She couldn't watch this. Even Yui had been more help than she was, and they wouldn't have been able to rescue Mio without Jun, but the two girls that had been key to their survival before were crying and mumbling to themselves in a completely broken manner.

They needed a president, not a irresponsible friend.

"We'll just have to help ourselves." Ritsu said loudly, gaining the attention of the broken group. "We need to find Ui, then we can worry about getting out of this _mess_."

"How can we do that? We don't even have any real weapons and there are hundreds of those _things _outside..." Yui whispered hoarsely, her loose bangs sticking to her blood and tear stained cheeks thanks to her favorite yellow clips being lost sometime during their search for Mio. "For all we know, Ui could be d-d-d-dea..."

She couldn't even say the word.

"We just saved Mio from those _things_," The tawny haired girl gestured to the frightened bassist glued to her back. "I'm sure that if Mio was able to face them and live, then Ui-chan could very well still be alive."

Yui looked up and Ritsu could see a tiny bit more of their old shine in the chocolate colored depths.

"Ui went to the nurse's office. If this is like anything I've seen in zombie movies, which this looks like now, the source of people turning into those things has to be the illness itself." Nodoka seemed to gain more of herself back from her own hysteric thoughts as she went on. "If the illness is causing this..."

"Then Ui-chan is smack dab in the middle of a _zombie_ hotspot." Azusa finished for the student council president.

Ritsu flinched at the odds now stacked against them as a broken sob tore from Yui's throat.

"Looks like we're in quite the bind." Sawako said, gaining her students' attention, shakily making her way to her feet. "We need to save Ui-chan and get out of here to a safe place, I've seen many zombie movies and have played enough games with zombies in them to know that this _safe zone_ won't be very safe very soon."

"You shouldn't be up yet!" Yui wiped her tears away and stood, turning to face the injured teacher going into her _"medic"_ mode again. "Your leg will start bleeding again!"

"I'm fine, it just hurts a little." Sawako waved her worried student off with her uninjured hand before scanning the down trodden group, her bent glasses sitting almost uselessly low on the bridge of her nose. "What we need is a battle plan."

"What? You don't mean we're going o-out th-there again, do you?" Mio asked, shaking like a leaf at the notion of going outside of the clubroom again.

"Yes, like I said before, this place won't be safe for long. We don't have any food, the power is out which means no heat, and those zombies are going to find their way in here sooner or later."

Yui raised her hand.

"Yes, Yui?"

"They can't get up the stairs and they can't see us, how are they gonna get in here?"

"While that may be true, we still have no food and the police are probably to occupied saving their own skins to come rescue us anytime soon."

The teens knew they would have to leave sooner or later, but they just wished it would be later rather than sooner.

"Ritsu, do you still have that hard hat you bought here?" Sawako turned to the drummer. "There should be a few emergency flash lights in the janitor's closet at the bottom of the stairs, but we won't be able to get to them without any light."

"Yeah, I'll go get it." Ritsu tried to walk over to the closet on the other side of the room, but a certain bassist attatched to her back was prohibiting her movement. "Mio, you need to let go."

She just shook her head and clung tighter.

"Mio, I need to get the hard hat." Ritsu tugged on the arms wrapped around her waist and looked to the others for help when they didn't budge.

Yui was eventually able to get Mio to switch Ritsu for her, after a long struggle, but the bassist found that the embrace the guitarist had her in felt nothing like being attatched to Ritsu. It was comforting, but she didn't feel as safe as she had with her best friend. Nevertheless, she snuggled into Yui's embrace and tried to block out the sounds of chaos outside.

_Why did this have to happen, just when I got enough courage to tell her..._Mio choked a sob down as Yui stroked her back and whispered comforting words to her.

Azusa sat at the table glaring at Mio's back.

For what reason?

She didn't really know...seeing someone else in her senpai's embrace just made her blood boil.

_Am I jealous of Mio-senpai...?_

"I found it!" Ritsu had the hat on as she walked back into the room and switched it on, illuminateing the dark area around them in a bright pale blue glow.

Sawako cleared her throat and stood up straight, putting full weight on her leg finding that it didn't really hurt all that much, her voice taking on it's stern teacher tone as she spoke.

"Alright. Ritsu, you and Yui take the lead since you two seem to be the most capable at the moment." The two girls mentioned nodded in agreement. "Jun, you and Nodoka take up the rear. Azusa, I'm going to need you to help me protect Mio."

Everyone nodded in agreement, except for Mio who was latched around Ritsu's waist again. Nodoka armed herself with the mop stick she had aquired earlier and Jun did the same with her bass as Yui and Ritsu took the lead with their clubs once more.

"Wait, I don't have a weapon." Azusa showed her empty hands.

"Hold on..." Sawako limped over to the white board and motioned the kitten over with her good hand. "I learned this back when I was in school. There should be a latch on the back of the board, pull it down and twist it as hard as you can to the right, then yank it back toward you. Hopefully these things are still made the same way."

Azusa slipped behind it and did as she was instructed, ignoring the fact that her own teacher was instructing her how to make a weapon out of school property. She pulled the metal lever down, making the board tilt and lower on her side, then tried twisting it to the right. It wouldn't budge. She wrapped both of her hands around it and used her body weight, which wasn't really much, to finally twist it. She heard a few metalic pops inside of the small metal cube the handle was attatched to and then pulled it toward herself. The handle came out with a loud _snap _and that side of the long metal pole holding the stand up fell to the floor making the board tilt even more.

_Clang!_

"Ha ha! Cheep ass school equipment for the win!" Sawako pumped her good arm excitedly. "Now just slip that lovely iron weapon out of the other handle and get ready to kill some zombies!"

"Uh, Sawa-chan..." Ritsu tugged on the teacher's sleave.

"'Sup?"

"Your-ahem-_other side_ is showing..."

"Oh...Well, what the hell? It's the zombie apocalypse, I might as well enjoy myself while I can." She shrugged and watched as Azusa armed herself with the metal rod. It was twice her size, but still a decent weapon. "Alright, let's go kick some zombie ass and rescue Ui-chan!"

"Sensei, don't you need a weapon too?" Jun asked.

"Nah, my fist is the only weapon I need." The teacher just waved her off and opened the door, ushering Ritsu and Yui out. "Besides, I have you girls protecting me."

Everyone silently thought that was not a good decision on her part...

Regardless, Yui and Ritsu led the way with the others falling in line behind them. Mio was holding onto the tail of Ritsu's blazer in one hand and the med kit in her other, making the process of getting down the stairs much slower with the drummer, being the only source of light in the whole school, leading them.

The screams had all but stopped now and, besides the occasional groan and moan from a zombie and the soft tapping of rain outside, it was dead silent. The quiet darkness had everyone on edge.

They were nearly half way down the stairs before Yui gasped loudly making everyone tense and ready their weapons.

"Guitah! I need to go get hi-"

"No, Yui. You can't carry your guitar _and _a weapon." Nodoka spoke up from her place at the back of the formation. "You have to say bye to Guitah for now, so we can save Ui-chan and get out of this mess. Or do you want to use it as a weapon?"

"I'd _never_ do that to Guitah!"

"Then it stays here."

"Bu-But...Azunyan, Mio-chan, don't you guys want to bring Muttan and Elizabeth?" Yui asked pathetically. The two dark haired girls looked away and shared almost the same agonized expression at the thought of having to leave their precious instruments behind.

Mio was too upset to even speak, choosing instead to bury her face into Ritsu's hair.

"Yui-senpai, we...we'll be back for them later." Azusa tried to smile despite the tears welling up in her eyes. "We need to save Ui-chan and find somewhere safe first."

"Nakano's right, it's not like we'll leave them here forever." Ritsu didn't seem so sure of her own words as she spoke.

"I-I guess you're right..." Yui cast one last look at the clubroom door before taking the lead with Ritsu once more.

It was eerily quiet as they reached the bottom of the stairs, Ritsu looked up and down the halway before she let her foot rest on the second floor.

"It's all clear, let's get those flashlights befo-_gack_!" Something suddenly shot out from the darkness and wrapped itself around her neck, it would have dragged her away had Mio not wrapped her arms around her waist and pulled back.

The hard hat was knocked onto the floor in the scuffle, illuminated what looked to be a body hanging from the rafters by it's own tentacle like appendage coiled tightly around the outside of it's neck like a fleshy noose. Unlike the other zombies, this one could deffinitely see them. Every one of the girls were paralyzed by fear thanks to it's sunken red eyes staring hungrily at them from the shadows. As if that wasn't enough, there were smaller red tentacles wrapped around it's naked genderless body like veins on the outside of it's pale skin. The vein that had a hold of Ritsu was attatched to the center of it's chest and seemed to pulse like the beat of a heart as Mio tried to pry it off her friend's neck.

It was the most horrifying thing any of them had ever seen.

"Help!" Mio screamed, holding on to Ritsu as tight as she could. "Someone, help!"

One of the drummer's flailing legs kicked the hard hat making the light switch from the creature that had Ritsu, to a hoard of zombies shuffling their way over to them. Mio saw them out of the corner of her eye and barely registered the feel of Ritsu slipping out of her grasp as one of the zombies pounced onto her making her smack her head on the hard ground with a loud _thud_.

The last thing she remembered was her friends coming to her aid and Ritsu being dragged by her neck into the dark, before she herself blacked out.

_Ritsu..._

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**A/N:** I don't know if any of you have noticed yet, but I tweaked the first two chapters a bit to make up for my extended absence and to prepare for the third chapter which might be published some time tonight or tomorrow. ;)

**Review please.**


	3. School's Out: Part 2

**A/N: **It's been a while, hasn't it? I know I know, sorry for the _very_ late chapter. I lost my muse for quite a while there...Anyway, I hope you enjoy this new chapter! Sorry again for the six month wait!

**Disclaimer: **_I own only this fic's plot and my OC's. Not K-ON! or its characters._

**-x-x-x-x-x (Friday, November 13th. Day 1. Part 2/2.) x-x-x-x-x-**

_"It's snowing..." _

_Mio looked up from her place sitting under a Sakura tree in full bloom in confusion. That voice sounded very familiar, but she didn't know where it came from. She held her left hand out and the large snowflakes melted almost instantly after touching her warm skin. _

_"Why'd you let me go?" That voice again..._

_She scanned the area with her blue gray eyes, but a wall of white surrounded the bassist on all sides making it impossible to see anything not sheltered by the branches of the sakura tree._

_"Who's going to protect you now?"_

_It was hard to tell where the voice was coming from. She tried to see through the snow, but it just continued to fall in large clusters as she stood up and planted her feet in the tall green grass she had been sitting in. Where was she? How did she get here? Why couldn't she remember what she had been doing?_

_"I'm over here..."_

_She heard the voice coming from her right and looked. _

_Nothing._

_"Can't you see me?"_

_It came from her left. _

_Nothing._

_"I'm right here, Mio."_

_Behind her. _

_She spun around and gasped fearfully at what she saw. _

_"What's wrong, Mio-chuan? Never murdered anyone before?"_

_Tied to one of the branches was a red noose with her childhood friend dangling by her neck from the end. Her lithe form seemed to be even skinnier than normal and her round face was very thin making her bloody grin seem even larger. Her amber eyes glowed a sickening yellow from their sunken in sockets and tears of blood seemed to poor from their depths. _

_"If only you hadn't let go, then we could still be together."_

_There was a gaping hole in Ritsu's chest. Mio could see the heart pumping inside cradled by a ribcage gleaming as white as the snow falling around them._

_"Take my heart, Mio." Ritsu laughed bitterly from her constricted throat. "That's what you really want, isn't it?" _

_Mio couldn't breathe; it felt like the noose was around her own neck. She closed her eyes, not able to look at this version of her love any longer, and stumbled backwards into the curtain of snow. Ritsu's laughter felt like a spike being driven into the side of her skull, it literally hurt to hear her childhood friend laughing. She felt the cold air rushing past her as she fell, her head was throbbing and the feeling of something choking her grew tighter around her neck._

_"Mio, it's okay. I'm right here."_

_The pain suddenly stopped and she was bathed in warmth._

_"Open your eyes."_

_Mio slowly opened her eyes and looked up seeing soft topaz colored orbs staring down at her. Ritsu looked fine. Mio reached up and rested her hands on her friend's cheeks, she could feel the warmth from Ritsu's lap beneath her head slowly soothing the pain away._

_"Mio, open your eyes."_

_They were open, how could Ritsu not see them?_

_"You need to open your eyes."_

_They are open._

_"Mio, wake up!"_

_She's not asleep though..._

"Mio!"

It was suddenly cold again, and the throbbing in her head was back at full force.

"Thank god you're awake, we thought we'd lost you for a second ther-"

The bassist sat up quickly, too quickly it seemed, and dropped back onto the teacher's lap with a groan. She felt something warm and wet sliding down through the hair behind her left ear and reached up to wipe it off. The raven haired girl immediately felt sick to her stomach at the sight of crimson staining her pale slender fingers.

"I expected as much, you took quite the blow to your head when you fell." Sawako smiled weakly. "I managed to wrap your head in time to slow down the bleeding and I cleaned most of it up, but some of it was bound to make a mess either way."

Mio sat up, much slower this time, and examined her surroundings as she touched the gauze wrapped around her head. It seemed to be a very small room. It smelled like chemicals and there were cleaning supplies sitting on shelves and piled up in corners. In one corner sat a cracked mirror, she recognized it from the first floor bathrooms, the janitor must have taken it out to replace it…

That meant they were in the closet at the base of the stairs.

The throbbing in her head somewhat blurred her thoughts and sight with each beat of her heart, this made it hard to focus on her and Sawako's image reflected in the broken reflection.

She turned her head to the side and felt faint as she saw the smudges and trails of dried blood winding down her neck like pale brownish red snakes. Her hair was clumped together and the white bandage stood out vividly against her dark hair making the large blotch of red just above her left ear that much noticeable.

Mio suddenly felt a jolt of realization and scrambled to her feet, almost knocking over her teacher in the process.

"Ritsu!"

She reached for the nob, but stopped cold at the sound of pained screeches of zombies and shouting of her friends on the other side of the door. It sounded like a warzone out there.

"It's okay, Yui and Azusa went after her." Sawako put a comforting hand on the senior's shoulder. "I'm sure they'll have her back with us in no time."

Mio whimpered pathetically as tears welled up in her stormy gray eyes.

She felt horrible, both physically and mentally.

It was kind of a relief knowing that her friends had gone after Ritsu, but that didn't change the fact that her best friend was in who knows what kind of danger as she just stood there helpless. If both Yui and Azusa were after Ritsu, and Sawako was in the closet with her, that meant Nodoka and Jun were the only ones fighting off the hoard her screaming had attracted earlier.

And here she was safely hidden in a closet.

Now wasn't the time to be a scared little girl, her friends were fighting for their lives and she wasn't doing a thing to help. Instead she was frozen like a breathing statue; her eyes focused with scary intensity on the old weathered slab of wood that stood between her and pure chaos, her hand faintly shaking just hovering over the brass doorknob.

A sudden _crack_ broke through the twisted symphony of growls and groans followed closely by a two screams.

It wasn't zombies this time.

A switch flipped somewhere within Mio, jolting her into action. The throbbing in her head was replaced be a fog of pure adrenalin as she practically tore the knob she had been so afraid of touching of the door that once blocked her way.

What seemed like a sea of motionless bodies scattered across the polished hardwood floor greeted her as she left the dark little room and entered a place of learning soiled by death. She strained to see something, anything, in the pale light cast through the cold void of a hall by a single flashlight lying in a puddle of blood.

She heard shuffled movement behind her.

A sudden gust of air and a horrid growl suddenly rung out behind Mio, her rushing blood instantly ran cold in her veins. She spun around and her eyes snapped shut, her arms thrust up in a reflexive effort to protect herself, but no pain came. She cracked an eye open and found herself surprised by the sight of Sawako holding a struggling zombie back by its face.

"M-Mio! Do something! My arm hurts like hell, I don't know how long I'll be able to hold it!"

Said girl looked frantically around them, she saw it lying in a puddle of blood not an inch away from her shoe; a broken broomstick.

She picked it up and, without thinking, stabbed the jagged end into the eye socket of what used to be Himeko Tachibana with all her strength. The sound of the gnarled wood entering the other girl's brain cavity was something that Mio was sure would haunt her for the rest of her life. The rush of fluid that followed made her recoil in disgust and let go of her makeshift weapon.

Sawako pushed the twitching body off of her and held her injured arm to her chest.

"Are you alright, Sawako-sensei?"

Mio whispered, looking down at her deceased classmate with sad stormy eyes.

She didn't know her personally, but Yui sat next to her and was quite friendly with the former softball captain. It was still sad to see someone as young as they were die in such a gruesome way, and by a classmate's hand nonetheless.

Mio glanced at her bloody hands and felt a disgusting chill run down her spine.

She's killed two people today…

"Mio, let's go…The Jun and Nodoka probably finished here and went after Ritsu." Sawako's smile held none of its usual warmth or mischief. It was forced for her sake. "She was dragged in the direction of the nurse's office, so if we're lucky we might find Ui as well."

Mio unbuttoned her blazer and pulled it off before kneeling beside the motionless body. She apologized quietly and pulled the broomstick out of the head of her fallen classmate with a swift yank. She said a quick prayer to whatever or whoever would listen and closed the one open pale eye then drew her blazer over the upper body and face of Himeko.

With a final whispered goodbye, she stood to face Sawako.

Her eyes shone like harsh steel. She gripped the broom stick in her crimson stained left hand tightly and stepped forward.

"Let's go."

**x-x-x-x-x**

Yui glared at the monster now dangling from the fleshy noose around its neck, almost looking like it was asleep. Her innocent brown eyes were slits and burned with hatred she'd never felt before this day.

The elder guitarist had rushed after the mutation dragging Ritsu away before Mio's body had even hit the ground. She didn't know it at the time, but Azusa had scooped up the hard hat and went after her as soon as Mio was saved and dragged into the janitor's closet.

Yui frowned. She didn't want things to end up like this.

She tried to move, but her arms were pinned to her sides by one of the many pulsing tentacles scattered throughout the room. She was lying on her side while most of the half-eaten students were wrapped in red tendrils hanging from the ceiling. It was hard to breathe; she knew if it wanted the hideous thing could easily squeeze her to death like a boa constrictor would a mouse.

Looking around the blood covered room she was relieved to see that her similarly captured friends were still very much alive and well.

Across the room from her, Ritsu was wrapped up by her torso much like Yui, but unlike her she was hanging from the ceiling like the others. She had a nasty bruise around her neck, but otherwise she was fine.

Nodoka and Jun had been dragged in a few minutes ago.

In Nodoka's hand was her broomstick, now broken in half, but Jun's bass was nowhere to be found. They were both tied up back to back dangling close to the creature holding them all there. She wondered what their chances were even if they escaped their binds, only she, Nodoka, and Azusa would have weapons while Jun and Ritsu had nothing.

She shifted her attention to Azusa, who was hanging helplessly above her, and sent the teary garnet gaze a small comforting smile. She had to stay strong. She had to be a good senpai now.

For Azusa's sake at least.

Their weapons and the hard hat lay side by side near a yellow ribbon on the floor, only centimeters from Yui's fingers, yet no matter how hard she tried she could only barely touch a frayed end of the bloody ribbon.

_This ribbon…is Ui's…_

The only reason she was caught was because when she was fighting she had spotted the familiar accessory and was distracted by horrible thoughts filling her head. Azusa had called out to her but it was too late, she was already unarmed and snared by one of the monster's slimy appendages before she could react.

Shortly after, while trying to free her senpai, Azusa had been captured as well.

Now here they were.

Every one of them was at the mercy of an unfeeling bloodthirsty creature.

Their only hope was Mio and Sawako, but the teacher was already injured and Mio was probably fainted from fright.

Yui sighed quietly and resisted the urge to cry for fear that the monster's attention would be drawn to her. Everyone was silent and sullen as the quiet patter of rain played a depressing song. They were basically waiting for death if they couldn't find some way to escape.

Yui's fingertips brushed the blood stained ribbon and, even after all her trying, a sob still choked out of the brunette's throat.

A sob immediately silenced by a constricting force on her neck.

She was yanked up face to face with the monster; its rancid copper like breath was warm and disgusting on her cheeks as it growled, it's sunken red eyes glaring into her holding unbridled fury in their depths. Her vision blurred at the edges and her head spun. She could vaguely hear her friends screaming out to her, and Azusa's rung out over them all.

"No! Let her go! Yui-senpai!"

_No…I can die like this…Not before I tell her! Please, someone save me!_

It was no use.

She watched the monster open its mouth, jagged yellow teeth with chunks of flesh stuck in them poised to dig into her face, her chocolate brown eyes closed. She managed to choke out her last words.

"I-I'm…Sorry…"

"Yui-senpai!"

"Yui!"

A sudden screech from the creature rang out and the grip around her neck disappeared dropping her onto the cold hard floor. She gasped for breath and her eyes snapped open to see Mio standing protectively over her fallen body, clutching Jun's bass like a bat as the monster thrashed with a broken broom handle sticking out of its side.

"Yui, you and Sawako-sensei get the others down! I don't know how long I'll be able to fight like this!"

Yui could see Mio's legs trembling from fear, but the bassist stood her ground whacking away any tentacles that got close with the bass.

The guitarist scrambled to her feet.

A wave of dizziness from being deprived of oxygen to almost the point of passing out hit her and made her stumble a bit, but she managed to make her way over to Azusa and the weapons. She grabbed her club, picking up the ribbon in the process, and struck the tentacle holding Azusa as hard as she could making it release the younger girl.

Not seconds after her feet touched the ground; Azusa rushed up to Yui and wrapped her arms tightly around her waist.

Yui didn't have time to enjoy it.

They separated soon after and went to help Sawako free the others.

It was a hard task seeing as they were hanging from the ceiling, but by standing on a cot they managed to reach and release their friends.

They wasted no time in helping Mio.

With team work they managed to kill the monster with only a small struggle; it let out a final loud screech as it took its last breath and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. There were many hugs, most of them given by Yui, and utterances of "I'm glad you're not dead"'s.

Mio apporoached her best fiend, whom was currently talking to Sawako about something, and sniffled. Her fearful tendencies were finally in charge again.

"Ritsu…"

"Hey, Mio…You looked really cool, you know?"

It was as if all the previously showed bravery just drained out of Mio's body as she collapsed into her best friend's arms shaking with sobs. Even Ritsu shed a few tears as she twisted her fingers in Mio's shirt and clutched the bassist tighter against herself. It was a relief to the entire group seeing the two inseparable friends successfully reunited.

Yui looked from the happy scene to the ribbon in her hand.

_Ui…Where are you?_

A single tear slid down her cheek as she hugged the ribbon to her chest. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked at her kouhai, who stared up at her with sympathetic garnet eyes.

"Yui-senpai…I'm sure-"

_thump thump_

Everyone tensed and turned to the source of the noise.

Sawako shined her flashlight on the closet used for storing medical supplies and other such things; it was blocked by a pile of bodies and body parts.

A quiet unsure voice came from behind the door.

"Onee-chan?"

Yui wasted no time in getting to that door. She ran over and started throwing bodies aside, covering her already filthy uniform in more blood during the process. Nodoka and Jun saw her struggling with the body of one of the larger male staff members and helped their frantic friend heft the corpse aside. As soon as the door was unblocked, Yui threw it open and pulled her sister into her arms.

"Ui! I was so worried! I thought you were…I didn't know if you were…Don't _ever_ leave me again!"

Yui's sobs shook everyone to their core.

Ui was safe, Yui's sister, their friend, but what about their families?

What about Mugi?

"H-Hirasawa-san…"

Ui reluctantly pulled out of Yui's arms and turned around, kneeling beside a heavily bandaged girl propped against one of the closet's walls.

"Yes, Nakamura-san?"

Yui watched the exchange intently. Haruko Nakamura was a well-known delinquent from another third year class, so Yui didn't know her. She only knew of her from what she'd heard from other students.

From what Yui understood, she didn't bully anyone, but she disobeyed school dress code and constantly talked back to teachers. Haruko was an intimidating person, she wore clothes pins in her blazer and rolled her sleeves up, she towered over most of the girls in school, and she had many facial piercings and blood red dyed hair.

Now her red hair really was blood red.

Her hard brown eyes were unfocused and staring at nothing across from where she sat covered almost from head to toe in bloody bandages. Her once intimidating face, almost always wearing a glare, was now one of tired resignation. Yui could just feel that she wasn't going to make it out of that closet.

"Here…Burn the fuckers for me, would ya?"

The injured girl pulled something out of her pocket; the silver object glinted in the light shining down on them from Sawako's flashlight. Ui held out her hand and felt a small weight placed in her palm.

It was a lighter.

So the rumors of her skipping classes to have a smoke were true.

"Why are you giving me this?"

Haruko smirked weakly.

"Those hangmen have paper thin skin. Take that and some cans of…antiseptic…from those cabinets and you have a…makeshift flamethrower…Thanks for the help…Hirasawa-san. It's hard being shunned for who I am, I'm glad you were here with me in the end…"

A sad smile crossed Haruko's face before she coughed up blood and her body locked up.

They all watched as her eyes rolled back and she went limp.

"Haruko…Thank you…You saved me, but I couldn't save you…"

Ui shed a few tears as she reached over to close the deceased girl's eyes.

A low growl caused Yui to yank her sister back before Haruko's corpse could sink its teeth into the tender skin on her wrist.

Yui dragged her stunned sister out of the closet and watched in fascination with the rest of the group as Haruko's body staggered to its feet, arms outstretched toward them grasping hungrily at the air. It suddenly sprinted at them.

Yui turned, using her body to shield Ui, but for the third time that day she was saved by one of her friends.

Azusa's metal pole descended on the zombie's head so fast that even she was surprised by her own quick reaction to the situation.

With a mighty _crack_ Haruko's body fell for the last time.

"Thanks, Azunyan."

"Thank you, Azusa-chan."

The kitten like girl just nodded, still stunned by her own actions.

"We should get those cans and whatever medical supplies we need, before something else happens." Sawako's eyes scanned over her students, noting that all of them looked somewhat tired from the day's occurrences. "Then we need to find a safe place to spend the night."

Yui looked up from Ui covering Haruko with a sheet taken of a cot, and an excited expression lit up her face. The others suddenly felt like they were bathed in sunlight from that one smile. Yui's ability to brighten up a room with only a smile was taken to a new extreme today, especially since they were in a room full of corpses.

"Oh! We can go to Katsu-chan's! She's got a big metal fence around her house, guns, a cute dog-"

"Yui! What did you say?"

Sawako grabbed the younger brunette by her shoulders.

"…A cute dog? Cupcake's really cute, I think Katsu-chan said he's a Newfoun-"

"No, before that. You said she has guns?"

Yui nodded.

"Lots. She even has swords." Yui was pleased with her own remembrance of those facts. "She lives down the street from me, closer to the school. She's a really good fighter too! Katsu-chan showed me how to kill someone by punching their own nose bone up into their skull!"

Everyone watched, somewhat frightened and disturbed, as Yui curled her hands into fists and expertly punched the air with scary precision while sporting her same large smile.

Who would possibly teach an innocent girl such deadly moves?

"Onee-chan! You said she was only teaching you self-defense!"

Yui looked down and kicked the ground like a scolded child.

"Either way, at least we have an idea of where we're going now." Sawako watched as Ritsu and Mio stuffed supplies into a gym bag, hovering so close to each other that their elbows would brush occasionally. "We can't afford one of you girls being dragged off again, so keep an eye on your surroundings."

Everyone voiced their compliance.

"Good, let's go."

Sawako took the lead and the girls fell in line behind her.

Mio gave Jun back her bass and recovered her broken broomstick from the corpse of what Haruko had called a 'Hangman', so she carried the bag full of medical supplies on her shoulder. The timid girl stuck close to Ritsu, who was wearing her hardhat, as the group entered the dark halls of their school once more.

Yui watched Ui like a hawk, whispering to her imouto every few minutes telling her not to fall behind. Azusa was similarly glued to Yui's side, except she didn't say anything and just adjusted her steps to where she and her senpai were never more than a couple feet away from touching.

Ui carried the lighter in one hand and a can of antiseptic in the other just like Haruko suggested; she looked at the bodies as they passed and walked closer to her sister. It seemed as though Yui's warnings didn't even matter.

Jun and Nodoka held up the rear, walking in subdued silence as they passed the student council room and the jazz club's room.

The rain suddenly picked up from a quiet drizzle into a downpour once more.

Knowing the zombies wouldn't be able to hear their footsteps now, Sawako motioned for the girls to follow her and started to run. They were soaked to the bone by the time the steps Yui and Ritsu had gone down to find Mio earlier came into view.

They felt a wave of relief wash over them.

Only a little farther until they can get out of their death trap of a school.

Step by step they gradually made their way down the slick stairs and into the ground floor hallway. A couple bodies lay at odd angles at the base of the stairs; they must have been some of the zombies that had chased them earlier. Yui felt a giggle well up in her throat, but didn't let it out for fear that the others would think she'd snapped.

Like before, the hallway was void of undead, so they just jogged right to the locker room where they'd find freedom.

Or so they thought.

Just as the open doors on the other side of the locker room came into view, two Hangmen descended from the ceiling and blocked their exit. Sawako turned to tell the girls to go back, but her words caught in her throat.

Another Hangman blocked the way they came.

Sawako found her voice.

"Shit."

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

**A/N:** I hope you enjoyed this long over due chapter. I'm going to try and update more regularly, but don't get your hopes up because I'm really busy with school right now. Being a college student is hard enough without having to write a 4,000+ word chapter a week.

**Review please.**


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